Harold Simmons

Harold Clark Simmons (born 1931, Golden, Texas) is an American businessman whose banking expertise helped him develop the acquisition concept known as the leveraged buyout (LBO) to acquire various corporations. He is the owner of Contran Corporation and of Valhi, Inc., (a NYSE traded company about 90% controlled by Contran). As of 2007 he has an estimated net worth of around $7.4 billion dollars.

Simmons is a billionaire and long time Republican donor who helped finance Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Education
Simmons has BA (1951) and MA (1952) degrees in economics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Career
After graduating from college in 1952, Simmons first worked for the U.S. government, then for a Dallas-based bank. In 1960, using $5,000 of his savings, he borrowed money to buy a small drugstore. In 1973 he sold the 100 drugstore chain, worth more than $50 million to Eckerd Corporation, and launched a career as an investor.

In 1997 Simmons made a $5 million investment in T. Boone Pickens, Jr. first fund BP Capital Energy Commodity Fund, by 2005 this had grown to $150 million.

Political activism
During the 2004 presidential campaign, Simmons made a $4 million donation to the controversial group Swift Vets and POWs for Truth. He also donated $100,000 to George W. Bush's January 2005 inaugural ball.

In 2008 Simmons was listed as the sole donor to the "American Issues Project," an independent political group which attempted to show that 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama was closely tied to sixties era radical William Ayers. The group's advertisements were rejected by some news outlets, because they appeared to be in violation of campaign finance laws and because of concerns about potentially libelous statements about Ayers.

Philanthropy
Simmons donated money to help fund the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment at the University of Texas. He has previously given to UT athletic programs and the McCombs School of Business. By 2005, total donations from his family and foundation to the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas exceeded $70 million. In 2008 the Harold Simmons Foundation made a donation of $5 million to the Dallas Zoo, the largest single private contribution in the zoo's 120 year history.